1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire harness construction provided between a vehicle body and an opening/closing member of the vehicle such as, for example, a door or a trunk lid.
2. Description of Related Art
An opening/closing member of a vehicle is attached to a vehicle by a hinge in a manner enabling easy opening and closing of the opening/closing member. Such members include doors, such as side-doors and rear doors, and other opening/closing members, such as trunk lids. If there are electric components provided in the opening/closing member, a wire harness is arranged from the vehicle body toward the opening/closing member.
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 8, if a wire harness is arranged between a vehicle body and a side door of the vehicle, the wire harness (door harness) W/H is passed through an aperture 1b formed on the body side edge face of inner-panel 1a of door 1 and extends to body 3. Since the aperture 1b is located further outward on the door 1 than weather-strip 2 and the wire harness W/H is located below hinge H between the body and the door of the vehicle, the wire harness W/H only twists without extending or contracting as the door is opened or closed. However, passing the wire harness W/H through the aperture 1b is a very difficult operation. Therefore, there have been a number of proposals for arranging a wire harness on the body side of a vehicle door without a passing-through operation.
In arranging a wire harness on a vehicle door, when the wire harness is arranged from a passenger compartment side of an inner panel to the body side of the door, the wire harness is not passed through an aperture so that installment becomes easy. However, since the wire harness is arranged at a point closer to the passenger compartment side than a hinge joining the body and the door, it becomes necessary to extend or contract the wire harness as the door is opened or closed.
To address this problem, an applicant of the present patent application previously provided an invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication H10-934, as shown in FIG. 9. In the wire harness arrangement construction shown in FIG. 9, a nearly-triangular space 1c is provided on the passenger compartment side of inner panel 1a of door 1, and a surplus length portion is provided in the wire harness W/H so that the wire harness W/H can follow the opening/closing movement of the door. The surplus length portion is accommodated in space 1c and pulled out from a pull-out opening of space 1c toward the body side of the door. In the above described configuration, the surplus length portion of the wire harness is pulled out from space 1c when the door is opened, and is accommodated in space 1c when the door is closed, thereby enabling the wire harness to follow the opening/closing movement of the door.
However, in the above-described configuration, since the wire harness is simply formed from a group of electric wires bundled together by taping, the rigidity of the wire harness is low. Therefore, there is a risk that the wire harness is not pulled into space 1c successfully when the door is closed. In this case, the wire harness is hung by gravity between the body and the door, which may jam the wire harness therebetween.
In the prior art configuration of Japanese Laid Open Publication H10-16672 shown in FIG. 10, a wire harness is protected by protector 5 having one end slidably fitted in sliding guide 8 provided on an inner panel of a door. The door side of protector 5 is attached to body 3 by connector 9 which oscillates.
Although the above-noted problems described in JP H10-934 are partially solved in JP H10-16672, other problems occur. In particular, protector 5 and sliding guide 8 need sufficient space so as to mutually slide in extension/contraction directions and to absorb a rotation direction movement accompanied by rotations of the door. This causes an abnormal sound in reaction to body vibrations of protector 5. On the other hand, insufficient space can make the sliding more difficult and may cause jamming. Further, since the wire harness bends sharply and extends inside the door, stress is repeatedly placed on one portion, which may damage the wire harness and decrease durability of the wire harness. Also, since the wire harness is continuously swung without being constrained inside the door, it may wear out due to friction with the inner panel or produce an abnormal sound in reaction to vehicle body vibrations. Particularly, because the wire harness is fixed to the door side by a clamp or the like, at 1d shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, bending stress is focused on the portion 1d of the wire harness. This may wear out and damage the wire harness. Additionally, when the wire harness is forcefully bent, excessive force is applied between protector 5 and slide guide 8, thereby hindering a smooth slide and causing abnormal sounds.